Tecumseh Trail Trip March/April

“what is the 100 for???”

“I have to bail on this trip. I have two uncles that are near death. We'll be going to Nashville, TN and Harlan, Ky to visit with them for the last time.”

“Well unfortunately we're going to have to bail too :(
We found out yesterday that the HVAC guy wants to come over tomorrow to finalize a quote for central air and since we've been waiting over a month for this it kind of takes precedence over playing in the woods!
Have fun all and we'll catch you on the next one...”

“You'll have a great hike! ;-)”

“I'm about to leave...see you guys around 11-12ish.”

“Great trip! Thanks for putting it together Randall. Good to meet new people and catch up with the ones I've not seen in a while.”

“@ Wil”

“My gps showed 12 miles.”

“Nice, so I probably got 13 in? I enjoyed the weather ;-)”

“ahlt... looks like I missed it...

I'm dying to get out!!!”

“windigrrl, can I assume you eventually tracked down our separated individuals?”

“My thanks to Randall for setting up this memorable trip, to Windigrrl for helping warm up and dry a bunch of soaked backpackers Sunday afternoon, and to all to participated in such a good trip and comradery.

Here is my slide show of the trip:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/577180398LvyVav”

“I don't know if warming up helped any but glad I could be of service. Hope Tom is doing ok.”

“nice slide show Pros! Bummer on the truck. That sucks. Looks like there are lots of new faces I need to meet.”

“Hey all,
Here are my pics.
I'll do the TR tomorrow.
See ya later.
Randall

http://community.webshots.com/album/577204137dlmiek”

“There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones!”

“I volunteer Windi to do the TR for the unscheduled splinter trip. ;-)”

“wheres the trip report randl?”

“Randall is working on the captions to his photographs, so his trip report may be a while.

As to Tom's knee injury, when we picked him up Tuesday afternoon, he had regained much of his mobility and was in good spirits. Since then, I found out by email that Tom has had a speedy recovery due to his walking and swimming, and that he immensely enjoyed the camaraderie.”

“OMG, it's Luna!

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2441386250103420078iViLOW

She followed us from Plumb Creek Road all the way to Prang Pond. Not sure who she belongs to, but she loves to hike the trails.”

“Still working on the tr!!!”

“What is it? a book? lol”

“can you hurry it up please?”

“I drove.
I camped.
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I drove.”

“Chin, you left a detail out.

“I drove.
I camped.
I got my car stuck,
I got it unstuck,
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I camped.
I hiked.
I drove.”
ChinMusic”

“Okay, so here goes nothing.

I left Chicagoland about 5:30 in the morning and drove all the way to Connertuckyville to drop off mom and Ryan. Somewhere about halfway to Indianapolis, I noticed a strange vibration coming from the front into the car. It wasn't that bad so we kept driving. After a quick stop at Connertuckyville and headed west to Martinsville Indiana and the super Wal-Mart to meet Athena55 and Chinmusic. But the time I got there the vibration was much worse and decided I'd better go to garage. They determined that my left front wheel bearing was gone bad and so I had them change both. That cost me $360. Oh well
Chin and Athena 55 came and picked me up at the garage and then we went to the super Wal-Mart to get some food, beer and wine.

We then headed to the first of our cachet locations, Bear Lake. We found it without much trouble and stashed some food and libations there.
We met a young guy just getting ready to go hiking and I told him about the Creek that was just west of Bear Lake. We talked with them for a little while, told him about thebackpacker.com and gave him a better map than the one he had.

We then drove to her second cachet location, Prange pond. We left some more food and libations there then headed on to Scarce Of Fat Ridge Road. We stashed more libations and water at the top of Scarce Of Fat Ridge. After that we headed to Yellowwood state forest campground and met the others there. Prosecutor, Rbuddy, TChiker, and WindiGirl were already as well as coyote and uncle B waiting for us and had picked out as good a site as could be found considering the amount of rain that had recently fallen in that part of Indiana.

We made a fire, sat around and drank beer and just discuss things in general. About 11:00 PM hubcap called me and asked if we needed any more firewood and offered to pick some up just in case. He showed up not long after that with some or wood and we were all glad to have it because it was getting a little cold.

We all continued to talk until late and then Dub and Pug showed up. I went to sleep shortly after that, but really didn't sleep that well because sometime around 3;00 AM in the morning, somebody set off their car alarm. Turns out, it was Uncle B!! He and Hub stayed up later than they should have and through some strange turn of events (yes, alcohol was a factor) they both managed to fall asleep in the mud around the fire. I'm not sure what time Hub woke up and discovered the error of his ways but it was probably pretty close to the same time that uncle B set off his damn car alarm!! Coyote managed to get both of them taking care of, rather forcibly I must admit, and I fell back asleep.

I woke up a little after 7:00 AM and made my way to the fire only to find a scene reminiscent of college frat party gone very bad. Any chair that happened to be left around the fire was fully covered with mud. All the wood had been burned up and there were various empty beer cans and vodka bottles strewn about the area. Uncle B's hat was ground deep into the mud along with Hubs headlamp and a bag of stray tent stakes. We found Hub asleep (yeah, that's what were gonna call it) inside his running car with the heater on. Uncle B soon made his appearance, much the worse for wear and obviously still drunk!! (I swear ta God!!) He had somehow managed to blacken his right eye, coming dangerously close to poking it out. He had absolutely no idea how that occurred. I offered him medicine, but all he was really interested in was sleep. Hub was a little better, but not by much.

The rest of the group began to get up in twos and threes and we all did the morning thing in good time. As soon as everybody was ready, we all loaded up in our cars with Windy leading Hub, Pug and Uncle B to the southern trailhead. But before they got there they were supposed to go to Prange Pond and pick up Hub as he was leaving his car there for them to use for shuttle purposes. They did this because they were only going to hike to Prange Pond for a short weekend trip.

Hub somehow managed to misunderstand who he was supposed to follow ended up following the rest of us towards Morgan Monroe State Forest Property Office. We got them straightened out and the rest of us continued our way to the northern most trailhead to leave cars and then to complete our shuttle by meeting Wendy and the rest at the southern trailhead, at least that's how it was supposed to happen. It didn't.

Those of us, (here to be referred as non-weekenders), made our way to Morgan Monroe State Forest Property Office without any real drama. We left a few cars there packed in as tight as we could and made our way towards the southern most trailhead via Bloomington, Indiana. The trip down was mostly uneventful until we came to TC Steele road. As soon as we got to that intersection we saw Uncle B walking the side of the road, map in hand and obviously confused. He wasn't the only one, we were all very surprised at his presence here since the southern most trailhead was at least 6 miles further south. Something had obviously gone wrong!!! After interviewing a very groggy and highly hung over uncle B, it was determined that the weekenders had started at the wrong trailhead. Windy and Dub had already made their way past the point of no return. We loaded up uncle B. and headed to the trailhead where pug and a slightly less hung over Hub awaited us.

We tried to load everybody up but there just wasn't enough room. We decided it might be best for uncle B. and Pug to ride on the back of the tailgate of one of our shuttle vehicles. That didn't last very long as uncle B. proved a little too intelligent to ride on the back of a small pickup trucks tailgate going out about 40 miles an hour. We stopped and let him and pug off with plans to come pick them back up as soon as we got to the southern trailhead. Meanwhile, Hub was stuck in the back of Athena55's Jeep, growing more and more nauseous by the minute (guess he shouldn't have drank all that vodka!!).

Now, I had never been to the southern trailhead before my life and wasn't really sure where it was at. I knew it was just a little past the Crooked Creek boat ramp on Monroe reservoir. Both vehicles headed that way in good time and as soon as we passed the boat ramp, we came upon a young redneck in training standing beside his crashed truck. Luckily for him he wasn't very bad shape and the only real casualty being the front end and of course, the tree that he had hit. We all got out and checked our bearings and had the first of many discussions on where the southern most trailhead actually was. It wasn't too long after that that the young redneck's friends showed up and tried unsuccessfully to dislodge his truck from the tree. They ended up calling his father, who, as you can imagine was less than thrilled.

We found the trail head about 100 yards further down the road and parked our vehicles, put on our packs and hit the trail. (Finally!!)

The weather was really good, clear skies and temps in the lower 60s. We made good time down a series of forest fire trails and had lunch and a nice sunny clearing. Everybody strip down to their shorts and we got back to the trail. Heading north, we soon came upon the first section of road walking that we had to do on the Tecumseh Trail. This proved to be about a mile and a half to 2 miles in length. In defense of the trail itself, this was the only avenue that provided as a bridge to cross the already rain swollen Schooner Creek.

The road walking section ended at the top of Scarce O Fat Ridge. This was also where we left a large stash of water and various libations. Another discussion was had concerning the actual campsite and the whereabouts of Windy and Dub. Up to this point we really had no communication from either of them and worked really sure where they were. Yup, sounds like a typical Trail Talk trip to me.

I was forced by a considerable amount of peer pressure to set up my voicemail account and see if there were any messages concerning our lost companions. Turns out they were okay and knew that they had started at the wrong place. Numerous theories were offered as to what had actually happened. But as long as they were okay I really wasn't very worried. Come on, they're both adults. We continued our discussions about the campsite and after rather lengthy heated negotiations we decided to camp at the intersection of the Tecumseh Trail and the scarce of fat Ridge Trail. It was only about a mile and a half away and very soon we found ourselves a nice spot with lots of wood and even a small water source close by.

Upon our arrival, uncle B. immediately laid down and went to sleep. Everybody else fared much better and soon tents dotted the landscape and the sound of firewood being gathered was in the air. We all ate her dinner is and spent the balance of the evening around the fire telling stories and generally just enjoying the outdoors. Prosecutor, had been monitoring the weather reports and had a rather dismal day ahead of us. We all rigged for rain and hit the sack sometime around 10 PM.

I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but I think was close to 1 AM in the morning. The first few raindrops began to hit the top of my tent and a steady rain set in. It rained pretty much continuously until about 5 PM the next day.
No one was a real big hurry to get out there tent Sunday morning, with most doing the cooking from their sleeping bags. Coyote, Rbuddy and greatly improved Uncle B. were the first to leave saying something about heading for a John down by the lake. The rest of us finally got a small break in the weather, packed up and hit the trail.

We hiked in a steady, cold rain until we made the shelter of some white pines at the north end of Yellow Wood Lake. We had a brief lunch and got back to hiking as more than a few of our party soon discovered that their high dollar rainwear really wasn't worth the money they paid for it.

We hiked steadily through increasing rain and deepening mud. To say that the overall morale of our group suffered would be a gross understatement. By the time the majority of us had reached Prange Pond, there were quite a few cold, wet unhappy, campers among us. Somewhere along the trail we lost Coyote, Rbuddy and Uncle B. Coyote had told me that they would meet us at Prange Pond. But when we got there, there was no sign of them. Additionally, we were expecting to find Windy and Dub waiting for us. But unfortunately the only thing waiting for at Prange Pond were a few stunted bluegill and large mouth bass.

Another discussion ensued and additional theories are presented concerning both the absence of Windy and Dub as well as the now lost Coyote, Rbuddy and Uncle B. Cell phone calls were made and in a very short time Windy and Dub arrived, all nice and dry. By this time poor attitudes were running rampant with many of our hiking party suffering noticeably from the damp and cold. TChiker was suffering more than just the effects of exposure, he had fallen somewhere between Yellow Wood Lake and our present location. His knee was rapidly stiffening and there was great doubt as to whether or not he would be able to continue. While we were waiting for lost Coyote, Rbuddy and Uncle B to show up, Windy was nice enough to let some people warm up and dry out inside her running vehicle. As chin music and myself were gathering up our supplies that we had stashed earlier in the week, Chin slipped while climbing a steep rise and broke one of his hiking poles. He was not happy with the result and vented his wrath on every unfortunate tree and vine within his reach.

About 20 minutes later, Coyote, Rbuddy and Uncle B finally showed up. Turns out they had taken a rather long lunch break that put them well behind us. Another series of discussions ensued concerning just how much further we have to go before we reached the proposed campsite. Most voted on getting their as soon as possible, keeping the remaining distance to just under a mile. The weekenders packed up and left. While the rest of us trudged on through a near downpour praying to God that the weather would break shortly. Again, attitudes suffered greatly with many highly vocal exclamations of dissension echoing through the surrounding forest.

Oh joy, what great fun the outdoors can be when presented with such obstacles. Onward ho, dammit!!! We'll make camp when we get there and it's not that far.

TChiker decided that he would try and continue buffered up by a strategic dose of ibuprofen and moral fortitude. That turned out to be a bad decision, but not tragically bad, just minor league bad.

We made camp on a small Creek, built a fire in dried out best we could. The fire certainly felt great and in a short time the rain stopped for good. Dinners were eaten, tents were pitched and most of us were in our sleeping bags before 9 PM

The next day dawned cloudy, but no rain, thank you Jesus. We all did the morning thing quickly and packed up. This leg of the high presented the longest mileage of the entire trip with us having to do at least 13 miles before we made Bear Lake. Tchiker awoke to find his knee almost completely locked up. There was no way he could continue.

So there we left him to his fate, alone, injured and vulnerable.

Really, it wasn't that bad he was only about 3/8 of a mile from the road. Prosecutor made good plans to come pick him up on Tuesday morning. We all made sure he had plenty of food, beer, reading material and ChinMusic even let him borrow his radio to listen to in our absence. We all hit the trail and headed towards Plum Creek with greatly improved attitudes, if not greatly improved trail conditions. Everything was pretty muddy and all the creek crossings were swollen. We continued on for about three more miles and then the weather began to change. The sun started to come out and it wasn't too long before we were all shedding our rain gear and looking forward to a dry, sunny lunch at the Fox Den Shelter. We finally came to bean Blossom Creek with Chin music well in the lead. The creek was way above the drive forward and so we took advantage of the Rail road trestle and crossed in good order.

The last section of road walking been presented itself to us, about a mile or so. Actually, after all the mud we had been through. It felt kinda good to be on a hard surface. As soon as we got back in the woods we took a small break and coyote decided to try and dry some of his stuff off. We left him there and continued on in good time making the Fox den shelter somewhere around 1:00 PM. We found Chin music there was always stuff drying off in the sun and it didn't take long for the rest of us to follow suit. Soon the entire area was covered with sleeping bags, back covers and rain suits billowing in the warm spring sunshine. We all gladly ate and then spread out our map and took a nap.

When I awoke I expected to see coyote someplace among the group. He wasn't there, but by now I wasn't surprised. We left him a note, indicating where we would be camping for the night and headed back out.

This section of the trail that runs between Fox den shelter and Bear Lake turned out to be the most rugged that we encountered up to this date. There were quite a few hills and stream crossings. By the time the vanguard of our party finally made Bear Lake, attitudes again were suffering. We picked up our stashed supplies and headed on down to the creek about 8/10 of a mile west of the lake. There we made camp and after about 45 minutes I went back out looking for coyote. I found him coming up the hill from Bear Lake. He was a little tired but not doing bad. He and I join the others at the stream and make camp for the night.

As spring nights ago, it was a very beautiful one, with the full moon making an appearance above the ridge just to our east. I tried to get some pictures but it didn't work out very well, never does. Camp was split at this particular junction with half of us on one side of the creek and the remainder on the other. We made two fires and spent the balance of the evening warming our toes and enjoying the outdoors.

The next day dawned warm and sunny and it wasn't long before Prosecutor and Rbuddy hit the trail to go pick up TChiker. Athena 55 and Chin music left shortly thereafter with me and coyote bringing up the rear.

In about five hours we made the Morgan Monroe State Forest property office. Athena55 and Chin music had already gotten there and had made the return trip to pick up Athena's truck at the southern trailhead. Coyote and I only had to wait about a half an hour before they showed up. We lowered our packs up and headed into Martinsville to a Pizza Hut.

That's it, that's all there was to it. Really, nothing else happened.
See you later,
Randall

PS
I ain't gonna proofread this damn thing, if you don't like that, you can just go hike the Damm Tecumseh Trail by yourself.”